The present invention relates to apparatus for inverting an article, and more particularly to an apparatus for inverting an article being transported by a conveyor.
It is frequently desirable to provide apparatus for inverting an article, such as a carton, box or the like, for any of a variety of purposes, such as sealing, cleaning, filling and the like. In the event that either the articles to be inverted, or the contents thereof, are fragile in nature, it is necessary that the inversion of the article be controlled, especially after it has reached an unstable overcenter position, to prevent the partially inverted article from falling with an impact sufficient to cause breakage. The known inversion apparatus fail to provide such "positive control" and are thus not well suited for use with fragile articles.
Frequently, it is desirable that the inverting apparatus be capable of operation in a mode such that inversion is effected of not all the articles being transported seratim by the conveyor past the inverting apparatus, but of only selected articles on the conveyor.
For the point of view of economy and simplicity of operation, it is also desirable to provide an inverting apparatus which is passive in nature and does not require any special power input to effect inversion of the articles being transported by the conveyor belt, but relies rather on natural forces (e.g., gravity) and the motive force of the conveyor.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus for inverting an article which is effective to invert an article being transported by conveyor by a purely mechanical operation without any power input being provided to the inversion apparatus.
It is also an object to provide such apparatus which at all times controls the inversion operation and precludes an uncontrolled descent of the article from the unstable overcenter position.
It is a further object to provide such apparatus which is useful for inverting fragile articles or articles containing fragile contents.
Another object is to provide such apparatus which will selectively invert selected articles transported thereby on a conveyor without inverting others.